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    ‘Twas the day before Christmas…

    December 24th, 2009

    … and all through our town
    everyone was content
    when Santa G came around

    We took G this afternoon to drop off our toy donation. Our local fire department collects for Toys for Tots. They’re always in need for toys for little kids, so using G as a guide we delivered some of his favorites.

    One of the firemen was outside of the station (deep frying a turkey of all things). G saw him and his funny Santa hat and lost it. It took us awhile to calm him down and after-wards he constantly kept looking over his shoulder to make sure the guy in the yellow jacket and funny red hat was far, far away.

    I’m really glad we did this and am really looking forward to doing it again next year.

    [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYoh-28TTQg]

    Merry Christmas everyone!


    Let’s talk Santa

    December 24th, 2009

    I’ve really been struggling with what kind of exposure I want G to have to Santa. I’ve got nothing against the jolly man in the red suit, don’t get me wrong. However, I do have a problem with… how should I put this… his authenticity.

    I want to tell G about the origins of Santa and what he represents: generosity towards others, fairness and humility. I’m hoping to skirt the whole “Is he real?” conversation (some day) by acknowledging that St. Nick (aka Santa) was a real, live person, and that people resurrect his memory each year to honor him. I don’t want the focus on Santa (for G) to be “What will I get from him?”, but “How will I live up to his spirit?”

    So… starting this year I’m creating a new family tradition: on Christmas Eve we will each go and donate to an organization. When G’s old enough he can pick out what he wants to donate (it could be an item, cash or his time volunteering). This year I picked for him, but I picked some of the toys he’s enjoyed playing with that, hopefully, other kids would enjoy as well. It will be his first year being Santa.

    Then there’s the whole “gifts on Christmas day” conversation between S and I. I’ll be honest, I don’t want G to get any gifts from Santa… or if he does, I want Santa gifts to fit into his stocking (only). For the record, I’m not saying “no gifts” on Christmas day. G would still get his share of holiday loot, but it would clearly be labeled from the giving party. S, however, isn’t buying into this idea and doesn’t want G to be “the only kid who doesn’t get anything from Santa”. His argument is “if G plays Santa for someone else, who will play Santa for him?” So we’re trying to reach a middle ground. I’m willing to compromise on a single “Santa” gift. One! It has to be within $30 and we can wrap it in special paper (I stole this idea from S’ sister). We’re still ironing out the details though, so stay tuned for final decisions. Luckily for us, it’s not something we need to figure out this year.

    You might be thinking that I’m killing Santa here. I’m honestly not. If anything I want to keep Santa alive for G beyond the age of 6. I want him to perpetuate the spirit of St. Nicholas by doing deeds in his name, past when his classmates say “Santa’s for babies!”

    With this G still gets to bake cookies with me (yummo) and go hang out with a Santa in pictures. I’m not denying him those experiences. I just want to encourage him to honor the season by asking “What can I do?” and not “What can I get?”

    I want to put a big disclaimer here: I have nothing against others who want to tell their kid that Santa lives on the North Pole with a gaggle of hard-working elves and a flying sleigh with reindeer. I will support any of my friends who want this to be what their kids believe in. It’s just not what I want to tell G. The problem at hand will be how do I merge my friends’ perpetuation of the “Night Before Christmas” version of Santa, and the Santa I want G to know. I don’t want my kid to be the one ruining Santa for all others. I’m open for ideas here.

    How do you non-Christmas celebrating folk handle this?